Cries From Within
by Parsec
Summary: [Rated R for graphic violence and death] Amy's efforts to prove her worth to Sonic end up leaving her friends at the mercy of an unexpected threat... [Chapter 2 uploaded]
1. Chapter 1

_**Cries From Within**_

**By: Mark J. Hadley**

**CHAPTER 1**

It wasn't exactly a routine mission.

With the exception of a few small lizards or wild brush, the desert was usually devoid of life or movement, quite a serene scene. Today, however, this silence was broken by the high-pitched whine of jet engines, emanating from a small plane that was speeding across the landscape about twenty feet off the ground. It was fairly small, but it held up against the heavy winds of the sandstorm. The two occupants had to wear goggles to keep any flying dust out of their eyes, due to the sand blowing about in the air, but they still kept heading straight, a singular destination in mind.

In the passenger seat, Amy Rose was focused intently on the way in front of them, as it could be easy to lose their way without an extra pair of eyes. She glanced briefly to the seat in front of her, piloted by the one who built the Tornado in the first place. Tails, despite his young age, had developed into quite the inventor, and the Tornado was his pride and joy. It was hard to tell through all the blowing dust, but she could swear she saw a smile on his face despite his concentration to keep the craft steady. Amy wouldn't admit it, but she was impressed at how much he was at ease in situations like this.

Sonic, as well. He insisted that he didn't need the lift, and was following along on the desert sands below. The Tornado was fast, but it still only took minimal effort for Sonic keep up with it, and the cloud of dust he was kicking up in his wake wasn't really noticeable because of the dust that was already in the air. Their approach would go more or less unseen, just as they planned.

Their destination was already barely becoming visible through the dust on the horizon. It was a small chemical plant...although it had previously remained inactive for years, it had been seized by Dr. Robotnik recently and put back into operation. Apparently, he had found some leftover chemical compound at the site that he wished to analyze and produce more of. Whatever its purpose, Sonic was well aware that it shouldn't fall into Robotnik's hands, so he set up an immediate strike to put the factory out of commission. Since Robotnik usually expected them to be on the defense instead of making an assault like this, they figured this would catch him off-guard.

Of course, they had to approach unseen, which is why they were sticking to these dust clouds. Amy didn't really like it that much... all the sand was getting in her face and hair. But it was necessary, something about a perimeter defense that would have warned Robotnik if they approached any other way. Besides, as much as the sand irritated her, she knew better than to complain; she, after all, had to argue some in order to even come _along _on this assault. She only wanted to make herself helpful, despite Sonic's insistence that she would just get in the way. Eventually, she convinced the two of them on the grounds that if something happened to Tails, they'd at least have another pilot for the Tornado.

But that was basically it. She didn't have anything else to do, except to stay out of the way, which Sonic was pretty adamant about.

_It's not a routine mission, _she thought, _but it sure feels like it._

With a sigh, Amy concentrated on the desert ahead of her again. As she did, she heard the Tornado's engines power down slightly. "Tails?" she asked, having to shout to be heard over the engines and blowing dust. "Are we slowing down?"

"It'll make us harder to pick up on radar," Tails called back. "Remember, if Robotnik's expecting _anyone _to show, it'll be Sonic, so all his sensors are probably calibrated for high speeds..."

"Oh, ok," Amy nodded. She watch Tails easy the throttle some more, the Tornado slowing gradually until it was moving only about half as fast as it was before. Below them, Sonic had slowed his run to match theirs, although he was now running backwards, and looked extremely bored. Grinning to herself, Amy thought, _Typical Sonic...nothing ever seems to rattle him..._

Yawning, Sonic called up, "Wake me up when we get there, okay? I don't wanna miss any of the action..."

* * *

"Faster!" Robotnik growled at the pair of robots in the cargo bay. "I want all those drums loaded for transport at once!" The robots nodded, redoubling their efforts as they put the large drums of chemicals into the back of the large cargo vehicle. Robotnik nodded back to them and added, "And don't drop any, either; it's extremely volatile!"

Turning and striding out of the cargo bay, he looked down at the smaller canister in his hand, the reddish substance visible through the glass exterior. It was quite a significant find in this old plant, definitely some kind of experimental substance. Unfortunately, there was no data about it, aside from the canister being labeled as an armor research project. It appeared to be a bonding agent, and Robotnik concluded that must be something to increase the resiliency of metallic armor. Although he needed to bring this sample back to his laboratory for a full study, he decided to activate the processors and get as much of it generated as he can in the meantime.

_Especially if that pesky hedgehog is on his way, _Robotnik thought, furrowing his brow. _But even if he is, it doesn't matter... if I can get only _one_ transport worth of this chemical out, that should be plenty for my purposes. If I'm lucky, it will give me just the edge I need against Sonic..._

An alert buzzer went off abruptly, startling him and almost causing him to drop the canister. He quickly managed to grab it with both arms and hugged it tightly to his chest to keep it from falling... he gritted his teeth and hissed, "Speak of the devil..." then called out louder, his command catching the attention of a nearby sentry, "Activate all defenses, and send out intercept drones at once!" The sentry immediately relayed the command as ordered, and Robotnik looked back at the canister, thinking, _I had best depart now, before it is too late..._

* * *

Tails wiped some of the sand from his goggles and peered down at the instrument panel in front of him. The radar had suddenly become active, and he saw blips approaching from the direction of the plant. "Uh oh..."

"What? What's wrong?" Amy asked.

Instead of answering her, Tails peered over the edge of the craft and called down, "_Sonic! Incoming!_"

Still running backwards, Sonic blinked in surprise, but then grinned and kicked himself off the ground, leaping and turning a partial somersault in the air. He landed so that he was facing forward again, still in mid-run, and exclaimed, "Finally! I'll take care of the cavalry, and you head for the plant!" Tails gave a thumbs-up, and angled the Tornado upwards, climbing out of the sandstorm and kicking the throttle back to full power again.

At the same time, Sonic took off in a burst of speed, on an intercept course with the targets, which were becoming visible through the sand in the distance. There were eight small drones, round except for three flat wings extending out in a triangular arrangement, and what looked like a weapons port on the front. They were heading for the Tornado, but Sonic was moving faster than it, and knew he would reach them first. After a few more quick strides, he leapt into the air, his momentum carrying him out of the clouds of sand and through the air towards the nearest drone.

It wasn't expecting an attack from below, so Sonic landed on top of it with ease. He kicked off of it hard, propelling himself towards one of the other drones... the force of his kick sent the first drone off-course, and before it had a chance to adjust, it spiraled towards the ground, crashing into the dunes. Sonic clung to the second drone and started to pry open a panel on its side. By this time, four of the other six drones had veered away from its pursuit of the Tornado, and concentrated on him instead.

The remaining two drones continued to head directly for the tiny plane. Amy noticed this, and looked over at Tails to get some idea of what he was going to do. Tails, however, wasn't turning away from them... he kept flying the Tornado straight, keeping a determined expression, but cracking a small grin at the same time. Cringing, Amy thought, _What's he doing? Is he going to ram them?!_ The drones got closer, and Tails still showed no sign of changing course. Amy grabbed the sides of her seat tightly, and clenched her eyes shut...

Just before they hit, the Tornado rolled sideways, passing directly between the two drones, with barely inches to spare on either side. The drones themselves both tried to turn around to follow them, but when they did, they got too close to each other... the side of one collided with the wing of the other, causing it to snap off in a brief shower of sparks. The damaged drone couldn't stay aloft, and plummeted to the ground, trailing smoke behind it.

Amy released her grip on the seat and shouted furiously, "Hey, are you crazy?! You could've thrown me out of the plane there!"

Tails didn't take his eyes off their course in front of them, and muttered under his breath to himself, "Yeah, we wouldn't want _that _to happenwould we?" The other drone was already starting to come around and follow them, but he didn't pay it much attention; they were moving faster than it anyway. He was more worried about the perimeter defenses of the plant, their main target.

In the meantime, Sonic had gotten through the panel of the drone he was holding onto, and tugged at some of the wires. With each tug, the drone changed its flying angle, and even though it was erratic, he was still able to steer it to some degree. "Cool!" he said with a grin, and gave the wires a hard tug, twisting it into the path of the other drones. He hopped off just before it collided with one of them, both of them exploding on impact. Dropping back to the ground, he touched down on one knee as the debris from the drones landed around him, then glanced up as the final three circled down after him. Weapons emerged from the ports on the front and opened fire, but the hedgehog was already on the move; it was child's play for him to dodge the incoming blasts.

The Tornado approached the outer wall of the chemical plant, which was now being protected by a laser barrier. The crisscrossing beams of light between the tall metal pillars were too close together to allow even a single person through, let alone something as big as the plane. Tails angled their flight so that they were circling the barrier's perimeter, and called back, "Amy, there's a little metal device under your seat; could you get it and throw it at one of the pillars down there?"

"Oh, so _now _you want me to do something?" Amy huffed back.

"C'mon!" Tails said, a bit angrily, "Either throw it, or hand it up here so _I _can throw it!"

"All right, all right," Amy answered, and started digging around underneath the seat. "This round thing?"

"That's the one," Tails said. "Just toss it right out. Try to get it as close as you can." Amy nodded and looked out at the metal pillars. As they passed one of them, she threw the small metal orb as hard as she could. It soared out, not quite directly at the pillar itself, and for a moment, Amy was afraid she may have ended up tossing it into the laser beams instead. As soon as it was about twenty feet from the pillar, though, it changed directions and flew into the side, guided by the strong electromagnet inside. It attached to the metal and stayed put.

"I think I got it," Amy said. "Now what?" Tails didn't reply, but punched a button on the Tornado's console instead. A strong electromagnetic wave burst out from the device, extending out in a large radius... the circuitry in the pillar shorted out, and the laser beams generated by it switched off a moment later. The plane had already passed well out of the range of the device, but the shockwave from the EMP blast caused the plane to shudder slightly anyway.

Off in the distance, Sonic had just somersaulted between two of the remaining drones, their blasts missing him and striking each other instead. _Can't believe that move still works, _he thought. He landed from the jump, with the remains of the two drones raining down from the air around him, and was focusing on the last drone near him, when he noticed the EMP go off near the plant. "That's my cue!" he said, and started heading for the base, with the drone in hot pursuit. While he ran, he scooped a rock up from the sand, and slowed down just a bit so that the drone could keep up with him. As it was about to fire, he jumped once, making a 360-degree turn and throwing the rock behind him in mid-leap... his accuracy was dead-on, the rock lodging itself in the drone's weapon port just as it fired. The blast backfired, and the drone exploded into a thousand pieces.

Now that the perimeter defenses were down, Tails was able to take down the Tornado. There was enough pavement below to serve as a landing pad for the plane to land, and in less than a minute, he had set down, gliding slowly to a stop. As he did, Tails said, "Alright, now we wait until Sonic gets through. I'll be right behind him..."

"What about me?" Amy asked.

"You stay with the Tornado," Tails said. "It's your job to guard it, remember?"

Amy frowned and nodded, though she thought, _You mean it's my job to stay where it's safe. But how can I help Sonic if I stay here? He needs me!_ She waited until the Tornado had slowed enough, then unstrapped herself from the seat and jumped out. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she started running for the plant.

"Amy, what are you _doing?_ Get back here!" Tails exclaimed. When it became apparent that she wasn't listening, he gave a frustrated sigh and got out of his own seat, racing after her. Amy had a good lead, though, and was already past the deactivated barrier, heading for the entrance to the plant. Before Tails could get to the barrier, though, a few blasts struck the ground in front of him, forcing him to a stop. The remaining drone had caught up to them, and was opening fire on him. Without much cover left, he retreated back in the direction of the Tornado.

Sonic rushed towards the plant, and saw the drone firing at Tails. He gritted his teeth and ran faster, then leapt into the air, spinning into a furious somersault. His trajectory carried him right to the drone... and in the next instant, he passed through it, slicing the drone in half. He landed on the ground next to a stunned but thankful Tails, who smiled and said, "Awesome!"

"Naturally," Sonic said with a grin. He glanced over at the Tornado, and was about to ask where Amy was, when he caught himself and said, "Don't tell me... she went in, didn't she?"

Tails nodded, "Naturally."

Sonic closed his eyes and slapped a hand over his forehead, "Argh... all right, I'm going to find another way in. You get the Tornado back in the air, in case Robotnik tries to make a break for it. I'll be back with Amy... if she got herself into trouble, though, don't expect _me_ to get her _out_ of it." As the two of them headed for the plant entrance, Tails knew that Sonic was only kidding... though he didn't like having to rescue Amy from the danger she often got herself into, he still did anyway. It was in his nature, whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Robotnik activated the controls to the cargo ship, powering it up as his robots secured the last of the drums. "Excellent!" he called out to them, "Now, convert to defense mode, and protect the vessel from any attack. I don't want any unexpected surprises ruining the transport." The robots complied, retracting their loader claws and replacing them with an energy shield on one arm, and a blaster on the other. They fanned out, forming a defensive perimeter around the ship.

Amy watched this from her hidden position behind a stack of crates. She had gotten through more or less unseen, since most of Robotnik's robots were either here or outside. Still, it looked like they had arrived too late. He was about to make his getaway, and she decided that she had to do something quickly. _But what?_ she thought. _What would Sonic do? Probably just run right in. I can't do that... I'll have to think of something else..._

Her eyes fell on a large spool of heavy cable, and she got an idea. She quickly unwound some of it off the spool, and tied the end into a loop. Once that was done, she peeked around the edge of the crate once more, watching the robots, circle the ship. She'd only get one shot at this, so she had to be careful... she watched them carefully, waiting until just the right moment. The instant none of them were looking, she spun the cable around like a lasso, and threw it towards the back of the ship, grunting at the effort.

The heavy cable flew unseen through the air, and looped itself around one of the jets in the back. She clenched a fist and whispered, "_Yes..._" and ducked back under cover before anyone could see. _This'll give Sonic enough time to get in here, _she thought. _This is perfect! I'll bet Sonic will be surprised... he'll be glad he brought me along now!_

On the back of the cargo ship, the rockets fired, and it lifted up into the air, heading towards the ceiling as a door in the ceiling opened to allow it passage. As the ship lifted into the air, Amy gasped... the cable wasn't holding it in place at all, and it was unwinding rapidly from the spool. In a few seconds, it would come off entirely. _No!_ she thought. _I'm not going to lose my big chance to show Sonic what I'm worth!_ She grabbed the cable and tried to pull on it, but it turned out to be a bad decision, because in the next instant, the ship launched out of the cargo bay, pulling the cable with it. Amy reflexively clung to the cable tightly, and she was pulled into the air with a startled shriek.

By now, Sonic had climbed up to the roof, and he spotted the ship emerging from the open cargo door. He grinned and exclaimed, "You're not goin' anywhere, Robotnik!" He leapt in the ship's direction, carrying him the full distance and landing squarely on the glass bubble covering the cockpit. Robotnik was startled to see the hedgehog covering his view, and Sonic took the opportunity to make a face at him.

"_Heeeelllp!!"_ Amy cried out. Sonic looked around the edge of the ship, and saw her hanging from the end of the cable, holding on for dear life... the ship was at least a hundred feet up by now, and gaining more altitude quickly. Sonic looked back through the cockpit at Robotnik, then back at Amy... he gave a frustrated sigh and started crawling towards the back of the ship.

It didn't take him long to get to where the cable was attached. He grabbed the cable and started hauling Amy in to the ship, calling out, "Hang on!" Amy nodded and clutched the cable as tightly as she could, but she was terrified, and continued to scream as her tears left a trail in the ship's wake. One of her hands slipped, and she dangled by one hand as her mind raced, _Oh no I'm gonna fall I'm gonna FALL!!_

Sonic saw the danger she was in, and started pulling the cable in faster. "I almost have you!" Sonic shouted, "Don't let go!"

"_I'm slipping!!_" Amy shrieked.

Without much option left, Sonic tied the rest of the cable around the rocket and grabbed hold of it. He quickly slid down the remaining length, and just as Amy let go, he grabbed her wrist, "Gotcha!" Amy looked up at him gratefully, although he had now put himself in a similar predicament.

Robotnik watched them over his shoulder from the cockpit, and grinned as he flicked a few switches on the control panel. An arm with a spinning saw blade emerged from the side of the ship, and he carefully began to guide it towards the cable. Sonic clenched his teeth as he saw this... there was no way he could pull himself up the cable with one hand, and nowhere else to go.

He caught something out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head to see the Tornado flying a ways behind them. _Okay, one shot... _he thought. _Hope Tails is watching..._ He abruptly let go of the cable, and Amy screamed as they fell away from the ship... they tumbled through the air for a few moments, but sure enough, the Tornado changed course, heading to intercept their fall. Less than a hundred feet before they hit the ground, the plane came right under them, and Sonic grabbed the wing with his free hand.

Now that they were in a safer position, Tails turned and angled towards the ground, heading back for the plant, as Robotnik's ship disappeared in the distance. The plane touched down, and Sonic dropped off the wing, landing on the ground with Amy. She stood on unsteady legs, and said, "Th-thanks... that was..."

"That was _stupid,_" Sonic said, scolding her. "What were you doin' in there? You were supposed to stay with the Tornado, not go for a joyride on Robotnik's tail!"

Amy folded her arms, "Hey, I was just trying to help!"

"Staying out of harms way is the _best_ way you can help me," Sonic retorted.

"So you _do _care about me," Amy said, giving a smile, "I knew it!"

Waving his hands, Sonic said, "I didn't mean it like... look, nevermind, let's just get to the plant." He looked over at Tails and continued, "Maybe we can find something that'll tell us what this was all about. If we're lucky..."

* * *

Tails worked at the computer in the plant's control room, accessing databases and looking for information on recent productions. As he had almost expected, all the records had been blanked. Amy, in the meantime, was rooting through a stack of papers. Sonic ran into the control room, asking, "So, find anything, bro?"

"Nothing," Tails answered. He glanced at Amy, who shook her head. "Amy either. How about you?"

"Nada," Sonic told him. "All the chemicals were moved out. We're back to square one." He kicked a chair over. "Almost had him, too. All right, let's pack it up and move out. We're not gonna find anything else."

Tails nodded, "Right." He shut the computer down and started for the door. "C'mon, Amy."

"I'll be along in a second," Amy said, as Tails and Sonic left the room. As soon as they were out of the room, she sighed and looked down at the papers scattered all over the desk. _I tried to help, really, _she thought. _Why doesn't he understand that? There has to be some way I can show that I can be heroic, just like him. It makes me so mad... how can he be so stubborn? Why can't he see me for who I am?_

She shoved the papers off the desk in anger. As they drifted to the ground, she turned and started to walk towards the door, but then something caught her eye. She looked back at the desk, where the papers were collecting on the ground, and saw a piece of paper folded up under the desk chair. Curiously, she went over and bent over, picking it up, the unfolded it to see what was on it. She could scarcely believe her good fortune at what she saw.

It was a printout, probably from the computer here. It had a map printed out on it, which she recognized as part of Station Square, probably a warehouse since it was near the coast. A location was marked on it clearly, with an address printed beneath. But even better, there was a handwritten note scrawled at the bottom that read:

_1 – Secure formula component_

_2 – Complete weapon_

_3 – Eliminate hedgehog_

Amy's spirits rose as she realized that it was something Robotnik had left behind. _He's planning to go here to pick up something? _she thought. _Another stored chemical? Maybe if we get there first, we can catch him in the act! I'll take this right to Sonic; he'll be proud of me..._

She hesitated, then frowned a little, thinking, _No, wait... this is my chance to really prove my worth. I'll go there myself... that Sonic would probably just rush right in anyway, but if I sneak in, maybe I can hide out and find out what Robotnik is up to! This'll show Sonic what I can do!_ Tucking the paper away, she grinned to herself and headed for the door, to meet back at the Tornado, while working out a plan in her head for the mission...

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Cries From Within_**

**By: Mark J. Hadley**

**CHAPTER 2**

The Tornado descended towards the cliff edge, upon which the runway extended for its approach. It touched down and slowly came to a stop near the small building adorned with the symbol of two foxtails. Though the building didn't look like much from the outside, it housed Tails' workshop, the center of all his inventions and creative endeavors. Sonic was already standing by the door to the workshop, leaning up against the frame and watching the little plane taxi towards the garage. "What took you so long?" Sonic joked.

"I'm still working on those engine upgrades, Sonic," Tails told him with a grin, "_then _you'll have a challenge, I promise." He removed his goggles as he spoke and began unbuckling himself from his seat once the plane was fully parked inside the garage.

"Lookin' forward to it," Sonic said. He frowned a little as Amy climbed out of the passenger seat, and then looked back at Tails. He asked, "So we didn't find out anything about that chemical, huh? What do you think it was?"

"I wish I knew," Tails said, emerging from the garage, with Amy right behind him. "He must have taken all the files with him. If I could only have gotten a sample…"

"Yeah, it's too bad he had to get away with it all," Sonic said, shaking his head.

Amy knew that his statement had been aimed at her, even if he wasn't speaking to her directly, "Hey, it wasn't my fault he got away, all right?"

Tails looked over at her and said, "Calm down, Amy. We didn't say that it was."

Sonic shrugged and muttered to himself, "Didn't say it _wasn't, _either."

"Come on, I almost had him," Amy pointed out. "I had the cable around the ship, and it would have kept him from getting away, but the cable came loose from the spool! I was doing everything I could! Maybe you could open your eyes and see that I'm a part of the team, too!"

"Listen, Amy…" Tails said, scratching his head. "It's not that you're not helpful… it's just that…"

Amy frowned, "Just what?"

Sighing, Tails shook his head, "Nevermind. It's not really important. You just need to, you know, use your head some more."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" Amy demanded. "Sonic _never _uses his head! He always dives right into trouble, and never has _any _problem! I just want to be the same, you know?" Glaring at both of them, she stormed away from the workshop, "I'm leaving. I'll be back in a while. _Maybe_."

"Whatever," Sonic said, waving her off without even looking. "See ya." Amy shot an angry look at him for a moment, and then continued on her way. Tails, in the meantime, closed the garage and headed for the door. As he grasped the handle, Sonic asked him, "You see what I mean, don't you? Annoying, unstable, and just getting in the way all the time."

"Maybe," Tails said, "but she's still our friend. And she wants to help. We should let her, shouldn't we?"

"Be my guest," Sonic said. "I'm sure she could help you out around the workshop, right?"

"Well, I…" Tails said, fidgeting, "…well, she likes you better, maybe…"

Sonic nearly laughed, "C'mon, You know I can handle myself. I don't need her help. Not now, or ever. She's nothing but trouble." Stretching a little, he added, "Well… sun's goin' down, and it's about time for some shut-eye. Later, bro." He got up from the wall and gave a few more leg stretches in preparation to leave.

Tails looked off in the direction Amy went and said, "I wonder where she went…"

"She can go wherever she wants," Sonic said. "I don't care. Just as long as it's not where _I'm _going." Finishing his stretches, he immediately ran off from the workshop, descending the hill from the cliff and vanishing into the distance. Tails opened the door to the workshop and hesitated, looking out again. _I'm sure Amy will be fine, _he thought. _She just needs to blow off some steam, and then she'll be back to normal. sigh… Although maybe normal isn't what we need…_

* * *

By the time Amy reached Station Square and the vicinity of the address, night had fallen, bathing the city in darkness except for the occasional street lamps and lights from windows. However, the part of the city she was in was mostly a warehouse district, and remained fairly dark, with only a few lamps here and there illuminating the paths between them. It didn't take long for her to find the exact building… even from a distance, she could see a few shapes standing guard around the large warehouse. The light from the lamps glinted off their metallic frames.

_More of Robotnik's robots, _Amy thought. _This has to be it. Now, how do I get in?_ She looked down at her hammer, which she made sure she brought with her this time so that she wouldn't be helpless. It wouldn't be effective for taking down a lot of them together, though. _So I can't just barge in the front door, _she thought_. Maybe there's another way in._

She looked around, and then her eyes fell on the adjacent building. It looked like it was within jumping distance of the roof. She quickly made her way over to it without being seen, after which she found what looked like a fire escape on the side. Climbing quickly, she made her way up to the roof, glancing down at the robots again to make sure. They continued their patrol of the perimeter, and it looked as though they were completely ignoring anything not at ground level.

Amy faced the edge and started running towards it. She launched into a jump right at the edge, the leap carrying her over to the opposite roof. There was a loud _clang_ as she landed, and she shot a nervous look at the robots, but thankfully, they didn't notice. Giving a sigh of relief, she picked herself up and looked around, staying low so that she was less visible in case one of them _did _look up here. The far end of the roof was her target, and it didn't take her long to get there, even taking it slow like this.

There was a small ventilation duct just by the edge of the roof, big enough for her to squeeze through and just wide enough to allow her to take her hammer through as well. Without hesitation, she started to crawl through it, dragging the hammer behind her. It curved straight down almost immediately, but she was able to press her arms and legs against the side in order to descend slowly instead of dropping right down. Dust came up from the sides of the shaft where she rubbed up against it, and she crinkled her nose, squinting her eyes to keep the dust out. _I'm going to have to wash up after this, _she thought. _Ugh, my dress is getting all dirty, too. This better not stain…_

Amy reached a horizontal bend again, and resumed crawling. She was close enough now that she could hear sounds coming from the building. The clanking of metal told her that there were robots inside, too. She expected as much, but she listened for anything else. That's when she heard what she was hoping to hear: a voice, too faint to make out clearly but still familiar. Robotnik was here to oversee things personally, and that would make it easier to find out what he was up to. She quickly scurried through the shaft, trying to get closer to where he was.

A vent was not far ahead of her on the side of the shaft. Carefully, to avoid being seen, she moved up to it and peered through. The area it connected to held a lot of wooden crates, in various large stacks. She unfortunately couldn't see much, since a stack was near the front of the vent, blocking about half her view. She saw one of Robotnik's drones, like the ones she saw at the chemical plant earlier, lifting a crate and carrying it out of view. Though she couldn't see him, she heard Robotnik's voice clearly now, saying, "Bring it over there, and don't rattle it. That's highly sensitive equipment in there."

_I need to get closer, _Amy thought. She gently pried the vent open, careful not to make any sound. It was fairly low to the ground, so she climbed out first, then reached back and pulled her hammer out as well. Gripping it tightly, she moved up to the edge of the crates and looked around them to get a better view of Robotnik. What she saw nearly made her jump. Robotnik wasn't there at all, at least not in this exact spot. There was something hovering that looked like a monitor, and although it was facing away from her, she suspected Robotnik was on the screen. _So it's a transmission, _she thought. _I wonder where he is, then…_

There wasn't much else notable about the room, except for one other drone, who was also carrying a crate. This one set it down in the center of the area near the monitor, and Robotnik's voice came from it again, "Excellent, this one contains what we need. Return to the loader at once." The monitor swiveled a little to face the other drone in the room, and continued, "You. Look for any other crates marked with this number." The two drones nodded at the monitor, and each left sight in a different direction. The monitor itself hovered off with the first drone, leaving the crate behind in the center.

_Now's my chance, _she thought. Hammer in hand, she moved out from behind the stack, moving slowly and trying not to make any noise, but also watching to be sure nothing was approaching. She reached the crate and examined it. A simple nine-digit number was marked on the side, which didn't mean anything to her. _I'll have to take a look inside, _she thought. _Hope it's not sealed…_ Grasping the edge of the crate, she tried to pry it open, and was a little surprised to find that it opened easily.

When she looked inside, however, she was confused. The crate looked empty… nothing inside at all, not even packing material. She took an extra look, and felt around inside with her arm just to be sure; it was definitely empty. _But why would Robotnik want an empty crate?_ she thought. _Unless…_ The blood drained from her face, and it suddenly made sense…

She started to turn around in order to make a break for the vent, but it was too late. Around the room, crates began to split open, sending wood splinters flying everywhere. Small combat drones were hidden inside them, each unfolding from its compact state into battle-ready position. Within seconds, a full circle of them surrounded her on all sides, training their weapons on her, with no clear avenue of escape. She clenched her teeth and raised her hammer… _It was a trap!_ she thought _And I fell right into it… well, they aren't getting _me_ so easily!_

With a shout, she jumped into the air, towards the nearest robot. It swiveled its weapons up to try and follow her, but she had already come down on it with the hammer, smashing it to the ground with a heavy blow. It gave her an opening, albeit a small one, and without hesitation, she scurried as fast as she could for a wooden door off to one side. The robots opened fire, the blasts striking the ground at her heels. _No time to open the door, _she thought, and held the head of the hammer out in front of her, slamming it into the door like a battering ram.

The wood of the door splintered on impact, coming off its hinges. As Amy entered the next room, however, her heart sank as she saw even more robots, all of them swiveling their weapons around to face the intruder. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, looking around furiously for another way out. More blasts came from behind her, and she yelped, running further into the room to avoid them.

They had her surrounded, and due to the crates around the room, she couldn't see any other way out. As they closed in, weapons at the ready, she yelled, "_Leave me alone! I mean it!_" She swung her hammer up hard, striking it in the chest and knocking it back into the others, but two more moved in from the sides to replace it. Hearing a noise behind her, she spun around, striking the side of another robot approaching her and sending it tumbling into a pair of other ones. She panted at the effort, though; it was taking all her strength to fight them off, and there were still a lot more.

An energy blast grazed Amy's right shoulder; she cringed, grabbing the spot and trying to keep her balance, but another blast shot by, tearing through her left leg. With a cry, she fell to one knee, clenching her eyes shut and trying feebly to ignore the pain. Managing to open one eye, she saw another drone coming towards her, and tried to raise her hammer in her right hand to strike it. The drone grabbed hold of her wrist with its claw before she could swing, and the claw tightened, forcing her to drop the hammer. It lifted her into the air… she was in too much pain to struggle or get free.

The hovering monitor she saw earlier moved next to the drone, and Robotnik's image studied her from it, scowling a little. "Amy Rose, is it? Blast… I had hoped my trap would bring Sonic here instead." Amy tried to say something in return, but it came out as little more than a whimper. Robotnik seemed to smile a little as he continued, "But you'll do. Robots, bring the girl to me at once." The drone that was holding her gave a small nod, then reached out with its other claw towards Amy's chest, a small taser-like device extended from it. She barely had time to gasp before electricity began to course through her, and everything went black…

* * *

_Darkness…_

"_Sonic!"_

_Amy's voice rang out in the darkness… she reached out ahead of her, trying to feel around, but there was no light, and nothing to give her any bearing. From ahead of her in the void, though, she saw a soft glow that got steadily brighter, and made out a shape… It was Sonic, but he wasn't looking at her. Rather, he was looking off in another direction, paying no attention to her._

_"Sonic, can you hear me? Why aren't you answering?"_

_Sonic responded by lifting his head slightly, although he still didn't turn to face her, as if to show that he heard her, but wasn't listening. Amy drifted closer to him and waved her arms, just invisible as the darkness that held her. Maybe that's why he couldn't see her. But he heard her._

_"Don't you care about me? I want you to listen to me! Please listen!"_

_Sonic gave a short, silent laugh, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone._

_"Wait, please!"_

_He was gone… feelings of fury rose in her. She tried everything she could to get Sonic's attention, but he didn't care about her. Did he? But he rescued her…_

_"Sonic, come back!"_

_No, the answer seemed to come… he doesn't care about you. None of them really care about you. They're merely your friends. Your care for them is not returned._

_"No…"_

_She wanted to strangle him, for all the torment she went through. Nothing ever seemed good enough for Sonic. Nothing ever was. Nothing…_

_"Sonic, please come back… I need you…"_

_The void around her remained still, as if to show her how wrong she was. Sonic didn't need her, and though she thought she needed him, he would be beyond her grasp. What could she ever do to get him back? The void around her told her: nothing._

_"No, I can be important to him! I can be something!"_

_Amy wanted to shout out to him again, but as she started to, the light passed over her. She could see her arms and legs again now, though the rest of her surroundings remained dark. This changed in the next few moments, as the darkness slowly flared up, starting off as a dim color of red and becoming brighter. As it did, her arms and legs began to glow even more brightly than the surroundings, and small embers of light began to dislodge from them.._

_"What's happening? Sonic, help me!"_

_She watched incredulously as her body slowly disintegrated into thousands of points of light. She frantically tried to hold herself together, but in a few moments, there wasn't anything left to hold together. She tried to cry out, but even her voice had vanished, the cry echoing out in the silence of her mind._

_"Please, save me!"_

_The red faded back into the black from before. She was helpless, she was nothing. And she wasn't nothing only to herself, but she was nothing to Sonic as well. She didn't exist, not now, and not ever._

_"Please…"_

_Even her thoughts were as nothing now… they mattered to no one._

_"…"_

_There was silence. No thought, no self, no others._

_"…"_

_Darkness…_

* * *

Amy jolted awake… or was she? The bright red from her dream had vanished, but her surroundings were still pitch black. Were her eyes shut? She couldn't feel… her body felt numb and distant. She tried to open her eyes, but nothing happened. Everything remained a solid black. Her memory started to come back… _Robotnik captured me, _she thought. _He knocked me out, and brought me back… to where? I have to find out…_

She tried again to move, but felt nothing. Was she tied up, or secured in some way? It couldn't be, she decided, because she couldn't even feel herself straining against anything. It was as if her entire body had gone completely numb. She couldn't even muster a shout for help… nothing seemed to work. _But I'm awake now, aren't I?_

The void gave no answers. Not a sound, not a single ray of light. There was no feeling of coldness, of warmth, nothing to confirm that she _was _awake. In a startled revelation, she realized that she couldn't even feel herself breathing, and even her own heartbeat was absent. _Am I dead? _she thought. _Did Robotnik's drones kill me?_ The thought terrified her… this wasn't at all what she was expecting death to be like.

As Amy worried herself over this, a bright flash of light came from nowhere. She screamed in surprise, although she only heard it in her mind. The light was blinding, and she couldn't do anything to shut it out. After a minute, or maybe less, it began to fade, and shapes were becoming visible. They were too blurry to see, but they were slowly gaining more substance, and there was definite movement as well. Relief partially filled her, knowing that she was probably still alive, although she was still worried… her eyesight was returning, but she still couldn't feel anything.

A heavy sound struck her ears as well, something heavy, like wind blowing against a microphone. Like her vision, it was slowly becoming clearer as well. At this point, she had stopped trying to sort things out. She decided to just wait and see what was going on… everything would be explained soon enough, she was sure of that. The images became clearer, and she saw that there was definitely someone in front of her. That someone was speaking, but the sound wasn't yet clear enough to understand.

Though she at first felt hopeful, her hope began to fade as everything came more into focus. Even though it was still fuzzy, there was no mistaking the person she saw now; it was Dr. Robotnik. He was grinning triumphantly and speaking, though it didn't look like he was addressing _her_, but rather someone else outside her field of view. His words began to clear up, "…yes, that's it. Increase by twelve percent… all right, that's plenty, stop there." Turning slightly and noticing her, he said, "Ahh, she's awake at last. Excellent!"

_What's going on?_ Amy tried to ask, but no sound came out. Robotnik looked like he didn't even notice her trying to speak and spoke to her more sternly, "Greetings, my creation. I am Dr. Robotnik, your creator. You will call me master, and obey my every command to the best of your ability. Are your instructions clear?"

_Call _you_ master? _Amy thought… _Never!_ Instead of saying this, however, she heard something that would have made her heart stop, if she could still feel it: a voice, with a mechanical, synthetic intonation, which seemed to emanate from inside her, speaking, "I will obey, Master." It had come from her… it had to have. The realization of what happened slowly dawned on her, though she still refused to believe it.

Robotnik waved his arms and said, "Step forward and see yourself, A-27, codename 'Nemesis'!" Amy felt herself move forward under a power she could not control, and as Robotnik stood aside, she saw her reflection in a mirror across from her, a sight that would have made her scream if she were able to. Instead of seeing herself in the mirror, she saw the cold sight of a robot, a sleek, deadly construct of deep red armor that bore only a passing resemblance to her true self, a metallic prison from which there was no escape…

**_TO BE CONTINUED…_**


End file.
